Performance audit on Conservation and Ecological restoration of Lakes under the jurisdiction of Lake Development Authority and Urban Local Bodies
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Chapter III Effectiveness of institutional mechanism and legal framework
in conservation and restoration of lakes
3.1 Entities involved in conservation and restoration of lakes
The responsibility of conservation and restoration of lakes in Urban Local Bodies ULBs including Bengaluru, vests with a number of Government
departments and agencies. The powers and functions of these entities are elaborated in this Chapter. The entities involved and a gist of their roles are
given in Chart 1 below:
Chart 1: Entities responsible for conservation and restoration of lakes
Government of Karnataka
Forest, Ecology and Environment
Department
Responsible for afforestation works in
the lakes and also the custodian of many
lakes.
Fisheries Department
Responsible for regulating fishing
activities in the lakes.
Revenue Department
Owner of all Government lands including lakes and
responsible for survey, demarcation and removal
of encroachments.
Urban Development Department
Responsible for monitoring, restoration
and maintenance of lakes by BBMP, BDA
Deputy Commissioner
Responsible for survey of lakes and restoration works
in CCs
Karnataka State Pollution Control Board
Regulation of discharge of industrial effluents and
domestic sewage as per the Water Prevention
Control of Pollution Act,
Lake Development Authority
Responsible for overall monitoring of lakes
and supervision of works undertaken for
restoration of lakes in ULBs
Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board
Responsible for treatment of sewage before it goes into the lakes in
Bengaluru.
BBMP and BDA
Responsible for implementation of works and
maintenance of the lakes for which they are the custodian
in Bengaluru.
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3.1.1 Lake Development Authority
As per the Memorandum of Association and Bye-laws of Association of LDA Bye-laws, LDA was established to exercise regulatory authority for all the
lakes and act as planning and policy body to protect, conserve, reclaim, rejuvenate and restore lakes and its jurisdiction extended over the metropolitan
area of Bengaluru including the green belt of Bengaluru and areas of CCs and City Municipal Councils CMCs in the State. LDA was required to restore
the lakes by creating habitat for aquatic biodiversity including water birds and wild plants, monitor and manage water quality, create public awareness and
involve community participation for lake conservation.
LDA has a Governing Council, headed by the Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka and an Executive Committee headed by the Principal Secretary,
Forest, Ecology and Environment Department. The Executive Committee functions as the Empowered Committee which provides technical guidance to
LDA and scrutinises and approves Detailed Project Reports DPRs on lake conservation and maintenance.
Audit observed the following: ¾ The office of LDA is situated at Bengaluru and it does not have any branch
offices though its jurisdiction is spread over other areas of CCs and CMCs in the State.
¾ It operates with skeletal staff which has not been reviewed by the State Government since its inception in 2002.
¾ LDA does not have any statutory powers. As a result, laxity in exercise of powers conferred as per Bye-law was observed.
¾ Environmental Planning was one of the objectives for which LDA had been constituted. LDA had not undertaken any integrated planning in
association with all the entities involved in restoration of lakes.
While responding, LDA stated December 2014 that because of these constraints, they only performed the role of a mediator between the public and
the custodians of lakes. The State Government UDD admitted March 2015 that the development of lakes was taken up based on fund availability and not
based on any comprehensive planning. This indicated that the works were taken up in lakes in an ad hoc manner without prioritisation. The LDA
subsequently replied April 2015 that a proposal had been sent to the Government for sanctioning additional 60 posts and region-wise branches
would be operated shortly.
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3.1.2 Karnataka State Pollution Control Board
The KSPCB was required to assess the quality of water in the lakes periodically and report to the concerned agencies for taking follow up action.
The agency was to levy penalties on the polluters of lakes.
¾ Audit observed that KSPCB monitored pollution levels in only 120 lakes out of 36,568 in the entire State which included 48 lakes in Bengaluru
City. ¾ With regard to levy of penalties and action taken against polluters, KSPCB
replied May 2014 that they had filed a criminal case against BWSSB. However, no action was taken against the polluters of the lakes such as
residential apartments which were pumping sewage directly into lakes like Horamavu-Agara Lake.
KSPCB stated May 2014 that due to shortage of manpower and funds, the quality of water was not assessed in all lakes. The reply is not acceptable as it
was the duty of KSPCB to perform its job properly and ensure adequate manpower by taking up the matter with the State Government.
Recommendation 1: In view of the fact that the KSPCB is unable to monitor pollution in all lakes due to shortage of manpower, it may consider taking
inputs from other agencies carrying out assessment of pollution levels and water quality in lakes.
3.2 Revenue Department
Revenue Department is the owner of Government lands including water bodies. It is responsible for survey, demarcation of lake area and removal of
encroachments in lake bed area. Audit observed that the department failed to carry out its responsibilities relating to conducting surveys and removing
encroachments in lakes despite having mandate for the same.
The department stated January 2015 that action is being initiated to create a separate cell with dedicated surveyors to complete the survey of lakes.
Inadequacies in survey, demarcation of lake area and ineffectiveness in removal of encroachments in lake beds are discussed in Chapter IV of this
report.
3.3 Urban Development
Department
The department is responsible for monitoring the development works of the lakes carried out by the implementing agencies such as BBMP, BDA and
other ULBs under its jurisdiction. The lakes in the urban areas which were originally with the Minor Irrigation MI Department were transferred to
agencies under UDD.
